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April Issue 2005
SC State Museum in Columbia, SC, Features Works by Corrie McCallum and William Halsey
William
Halsey
"I try to paint not a description, not a picture but an essence, the essence of a place, a feeling, a thought." That was the philosophy of the late Charleston, SC, artist William Halsey, and the South Carolina State Museum's new exhibit of his work conveys that philosophy well.
Corrie
McCallum
Panorama: Paintings and Prints by Corrie McCallum and William Halsey on view in the Museum's Lipscomb Gallery through July 4, 2005, features approximately 116 works of Halsey and his wife, Corrie McCallum, two well-known artists from Charleston. The exhibition features a variety of media over a period of more than 60 years, including rare casein on paper paintings of the Lowcountry by McCallum, studies for a 1952 mural by Halsey that was destroyed by fire and abstract paintings and other artwork by both artists, says Art Curator Paul Matheny.
"Charleston has had a long history with art, and continues to be a hotbed of activity today with the new City Gallery at Waterfront Park, Spoleto and the Redux Center for Contemporary Art, among other galleries," says Matheny. "As important as the visual history of this area is, two artists stand out among the entangled art history of the city. They are William Halsey and Corrie McCallum."
Museum guests will encounter abstract works in oil on canvas or wood panels, monoprints, etchings and relief prints, drawings, casein (a milk-based paint) on paper, collage with textiles and rags, printmaking, etchings, lithographs, acrylic on canvas and more, says the curator.
William
Halsey
"Having such a long career in art, it's inevitable that they would experiment and evolve to find the perfect niche to work in." The exhibit ranges from the couple's early paintings and images from their time in Mexico from 1939-1942 to McCallum's "Wow!" series of acrylic on canvas from 1999-2001.
Halsey and McCallum are important artists, says Matheny, because "they brought different insights and perspectives to a southern landscape and social fabric in the first half of the 20th century. As a result they are two incredible artists unlike any others before them.
"Their work was important then because they perceived keenly the world about them, socially and aesthetically, and it continues to be important now."
In addition to being artists, Halsey and McCallum, who met in the early 1930s and married in 1939, also were educators at the Gibbes Gallery Art School and eventually opened the Charleston Art School. Both artists also taught at college and university levels.
The curator hopes that through the scope of the exhibit, seeing early artwork through work done at the end of their careers, Museum guests will recognize how paintings evolve. "While an abstract painting by Halsey doesn't necessarily show a 19th century Charleston single house, the textures, colors and patterns on the surface of the canvases represent the idea of flaking stucco and cracked concrete, with the beauty and color of time and the texture of history."
For further information check our SC Institutional
Gallery listings, call the Museum at 803/898-4921 or at (www.museum.state.sc.us).
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